Sharptalon's Vengeance/Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Instinctively Sharptalon ran towards the sound, thoughts of Aspenheart racing through his mind. He skidded to a stop when he saw a she-cat strikingly similar to Aspenheart battling a hefty ThunderClan cat - and losing. Jaggedstar, with difficulty, tore away from the cat he was fighting and ran towards the she-cat. Sharptalon presumed that she must be Jaggedstar's sister. Jaggedstar screeched, "Aspenfur! Hang in there! Somebody, help her! I don't think I can get to her in time!" Sharptalon froze. So even Aspenfur shared the same prefix as his fallen sister. It also shocked him to see the normally brutal and cold Jaggedstar have such an expression of raw pain on his face. Despite Jaggedstar's frantic calls and screeches, none of his Clanmates went to help. They were all embroiled in their own conflicts, only determined to save themselves and too selfish to help Aspenfur. Sharptalon had flashbacks flash behind his eyes - Sharptalon's panicked cries for his Clanmates to help Aspenheart; Hawkstar, then Hawkfeather, calling the retreat, leaving Aspenheart for the dogs. It was striking how uncannily similar the two situations were. "You see?" Jaggedstar's spiritual embodiment wreathed around him like dark shadows. "You and I are one and the same." "No," Sharptalon said, shaking his head to clear his mind and head. "We're not. We're completely different..." And yet, Sharptalon found himself doubting that statement. "Come work for me," Jaggedstar urged. "We could achieve many great things together. We could avenge Aspenheart." Fury bubbled up in Sharptalon and now it threatened to explode. "Don't bring my sister into this!" he roared, slashing at Jaggedstar. He missed as Jaggedstar darted nimbly away, so he decided to slam his paw into the ground instead. "I will never ''work for you," he hissed angrily. Jaggedstar merely looked at Sharptalon. One look at the tom and Sharptalon knew that Jaggedstar was trying to keep his temper down and voice even. "Very well," Jaggedstar nearly snarled. "But I'd be careful if I were you. The embers that are keeping you alive might be extinguished by water ''very soon." "Are you giving me a prophecy?" Sharptalon scoffed. "If you are, forget it. Dark Forest cats don't give prophecies." "It is not a prophecy, Sharptalon." Jaggedstar sneered at the words. "It is a warning." "What does that mean? What are you warning me about?" Sharptalon hissed, his voice laced with scorn. But the spirit disappeared, evaporating into the wind, without providing any answers. Sharptalon was transported back to the present, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Phoenixfire, looking at him with wide, concerned eyes, standing over his nest. "Are you okay, Sharptalon?" Phoenixfire said worriedly. His voice was like birdsong on a sunny day. It warmed Sharptalon up after the chilling encounter with Jaggedstar. "You collapsed in the middle of the clearing and you were talking in your sleep.." Sharptalon had no words. He couldn't speak after the encounter. He felt tired and drained and all he wanted to do was to take a proper rest. So he merely buried his face into his mate's fur, and as Phoenixfire put a paw around his shoulder, Sharptalon drifted off to a dreamless, deep sleep... Sharptalon was woken up by the sound of screaming. "Phoenixfire is missing! Phoenixfire is missing! The deputy is gone!" It was only then that Sharptalon noticed that he was slumped over into his moss nest, and Phoenixfire was nowhere to be found. Not even a whiff of his mate's scent. It was as if he was never there at all. Sharptalon scrambled out of his nest immediately and flew down into the clearing, where masses of cats milled around Hawkstar who was issuing orders frantically. The tom looked stressed without the helped and guidance from his missing deputy, and Sharptalon felt a twinge of pity. But he stamped it down quickly and asked Hawkstar bluntly, "What should we do? You've been in a familiar situation ''before." Hawkstar shot him a glare. "I'm sending out search patrols to look for Phoenixfire." His ice blue eyes darkened with worry. "I just hope we're not too late." ''Search patrols? How positively inefficient. ''Sharptalon thought. "Like the last time you were ''too late? Are you going to 'give up' to save your precious warriors this time? Who are you going to choose? Your patrol or your precious deputy? A harder choice than the previous time, no?" he sneered, trying to disguise his rising panic beneath his scorn. "Aspenheart's death hurt me as much as it hurt you," Hawkstar snapped and Sharptalon was satisfied to see that he had baited out another irritated response from the leader. "If you're so concerned about Phoenixfire, why don't you lead a patrol out yourself?" "Mousewhisker, Coalfrost, Icesplash, Roseswirl and Snaketail," Sharptalon snapped. "Come with me!" The five cats nodded at once, shooting up into the sky and following Sharptalon as he flared his wings to catch the updrafts and flew around the edges of the territory, feverishly searching for his mate. Sharptalon circled the territory a few times but to no avail. Hopeless and raw despair was threatening to blossom inside of his heart, but he forced it down. Such feelings were poison. There was still hope. "Sharptalon! I think I found something!" Coalfrost called. Sharptalon's ears pricked and he immediately flew over to Coalfrost. "What did you find?" Sharptalon asked eagerly. Coalfrost beckoned Sharptalon to follow him and Sharptalon couldn't help the hope inside of him rising and rising. Finally they arrived at a set of pawprints leading to the Stream. And they were fresh. "I think we should follow this track," Coalfrost mewed, his voice grave. "They look like Phoenixfire's." Sharptalon nodded, voicing his wordless agreement, and the two toms followed the pawprints all the way to the river, and what Sharptalon saw next shocked and horrified him. It was Phoenixfire. He was flailing about helplessly in the Stream, which looked more like a frothing river now, as its currents had rapidly gained speed and whipped the poor deputy around like a limp piece of prey. Phoenixfire was drowning, and the worst thing was that Sharptalon didn't know how to swim. Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Fanon) Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon) Category:Content (Mooneffects) Category:Super Editions Category:Mature Content Category:Fanfictions (Complete)